Success and Goals

Yes, indeed, success is a good thing — because genuine success will improve the lives of others, inspire others, and benefit you and those who depend on you.

We want FFP to be successful. We want each production and each product to be successful. And we want every FFP cast member to be successful.

Now, how do we define and measure success? Many people will think first about money, because, without someone, somewhere, making a profit, no business and no family can survive. Someone has to make a profit to support “non-profits” — churches, ministries, services, and, yes, even the government. Profit is a good thing.

When we measure the success of one of our productions, we ask these questions: Did we make a profit? (Enough to continue to exist!) Did we reach new people? Did we get positive feedback? Are cast members, and parents, and audiences pleased? Actually, in the relatively short time FFP has existed, we have been investing — in creative material and in people — with the intent that those investments will produce a profit in our publishing projects.

Happy Cast!

When we look at an individual cast member, we ask these questions: Did they enjoy themselves in a nourishing environment? Are they pleased with their performance? Are they more confident? Did they improve their communication and performing skills? Did they learn something “profitable” to them? Did they make any personal breakthroughs? When you see a shy young person suddenly (or gradually) become excited about theater, performing, and being creative, then those are dividends that feed the soul and inspire more creativity.

We call that success! Now, if we can manage to create a profit somewhere, we can continue to provide family-friendly opportunities for young performers, and produce new creative material that others can use and enjoy.

What inspired me to write about success? I read a book titled Unlimited by Christian writer Davis Bunn. (It’s fabulous!) It was written to accompany the movie Unlimited, soon to be released. It is all based on the true story of an extraordinarily successful man named Harold Finch. This man invented the “bar-b-que” roll for the Apollo space program that dispersed heat and cold around the capsule and allowed the astronauts to survive — and to reach the Moon! Tom Hanks mentioned it in the movie Apollo 13.

Harold went on to establish and then sell two very successful businesses and to travel the world, teaching his “keys to success” to tens of thousands of people — professionals, students, everyone. His success allowed him to establish his family’s Wellspring Foundation and sponsor a thousand missionaries, and inspire hopeless, cast-off orphans to achieve great personal success.

Unlimited takes place in one of those orphanages and one of the main characters is directly inspired by one of those “hopeless” orphans. The young leading man of the picture is from University of North Texas! The movie is already coming to Arlington, but we in the Denton region need to request that they bring it to Denton! Look up “UnlimitedtheMovie” and get a copy of Bunn’s book. You’ll be glad you did. Then you can get a copy of Harold Finch’s book and you’ll really be glad you did!

Here are a couple of quotes from Harold:

God has instilled in each of us a powerful reservoir of talent and ability — largely untapped forces ready to be unleashed to supernaturally energize His wondrous plans and purpose for our lives.

And,

What my mind can conceive, believe and desire, I will achieve!

Of course, that’s in the context of the first quote!

Those are from The Three Keys that Open the Door to Great Success. I’ll be writing more about this soon, so stay tuned!